Last week I practiced writing notes with the hopes that it will make it easier to read notes. I mentioned in my last blog post, I was able to read most of the notes for the song Happy Birthday. This week I wanted to take the sheet music to the piano and practice playing, starting with Happy Birthday as I already had reviewed the notes. Hoping this meant it would go smoothly.
Before I began playing I watched a quick 9 and a half minute video to show which key represented each note. As I watched the video I sat at my piano and labelled the piano keys with sticky notes. I don’t remember a lot from playing piano as a kid, but I do remember my teacher doing something similar to assist in learning to read music.
The video talked about using mnemonics to help with memorizing notes. This is a strategy that I defiantly think will help me, but also something to keep in mind in the classroom. Sometimes memorization can be easier when there is something to trigger the information, like a mnemonic. The video uses the saying “ every good boy does fine” to remember the line note order E, G, B, D F. This can be transferred into the classroom in any subject area that requires memorization, and can allow creativity as students create their own mnemonics.
After I labelled my piano notes I attempted to play the Happy Birthday a few times. Although it wasn’t horrible I was not happy with how it sounded. I resulted to my old beginner piano books my mom had kept stored away.
After a few hours of practicing the same simple songs, I set a goal to challenge myself to a more difficult song next week.